Wednesday, June 4, 2014

I’ve been very busy with the new job – so far, it’s been way
more responsibility than I ever imagined prior to taking the job.I’ve had to hire a new team of ~30 people,
work personnel conflicts and issues, learn the new program’s processes and
procedures, and ensure my new team is doing the same, all the while learning my
predecessor’s roles and responsibilities.I’m truly busy from before 7:30 I the morning until at least 5:00 at
night.The pattern has been that I go
back to the hotel, go to the gym, get some dinner, take a soak in the hotel hot
tub and go to sleep.Rinse & repeat,
save for the weekends, where, if I’m not heading home or somewhere with my
family, I have free time to go & explore Denver or get in a solid day of
poker up at Blackhawk.It’s a funny
thing; I started out thinking that the “single” life would enable me to have
more free time, but somehow my free time is fully consumed.

Regardless, live poker out here is an utter joke.The games are so soft it’s unbelievable.Sit on the nuts and they’ll pay you off
without fail.People love to slow play,
making drawing hands super profitable.The bet sizing for most players is so laughably bad that I find myself
facing true immediate odds compared to the pot, and frequently not even needing
to worry or think about implied odds.The room is regularly busy, with more than enough fish and tourists to
keep my bankroll sated.I’ve seen so
many people just call or limp their KK / AA hands, and check / call to the end
when their hands are clearly dead.I’ve
seen players pay me astronomical prices for their flush draws or their straight
draws when they’re so way behind in their draws.Lastly, the rewards structure in the poker
room (Ameristar) is pretty decent: they give you your choice of $1 / hr in
comps to be used for slots, $2 / hr in comps for food, or $0.50 / hr in
rakeback.Your choice – and you can
decide to cash out at any point.

In the online front, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a
moment to sit down and get a good online poker session in.I was able to sit down for a good 3 hours
last night, sitting in my new favorite online room, Seals with Clubs.I was afraid that it had been so long since I’d
last played a hand there, the games may have dried up and I would forget how to
be aggressive.My fears were not
realized, because the fish were really fishy and my aggression still
remains.I’m still able to pick off
blind steals, squeeze with air, and generally produce 3bets in the 8%+
range.It’s a cool feeling to see the
regs avoiding big pots with me out of fear, and the fish trying to pay big bets
in the hopes of hitting a miracle.On
one table, all of the players were starting to get pretty deep; 200+BB.

I was sitting on 300+BB when I was dealt TT.A laggy nemesis was trying to 3bet me on
quite a few tables (he was to my left and trying to defend his blinds / BTN);
we’d gotten into a few pissing contests and we were roughly even as far as who
blinks first – perhaps he was 20-30 BB up on me (I’m not keeping track because
I’m more thinking in metagame parameters that he’ll blow up sooner or later).He’s sitting on about 300BB when I raise his
BTN from the HJ for ~3x – no limpers and it’s a steal position from his
perspective.As expected, he opts to 3bet
me 3x to 9BB.Not one to be dissuaded
from a little aggression, I 4bet him to 22BB and he cold calls in
position.Flop comes 9 6 2 rainbow and I
lead for 30BB.He shoves over for 250BB;
is it wrong to call here?What do you
do?Do you fold?This is such a polarizing bet to value / air,
but what can he show up with in this spot?JJ?QQ?I felt like given the action that he’s not 5
betting me (probably a fold PF), he’s going to show up with so much air.The problem is that we’re so deep at this
point, a 250BB call if I’m way behind is a HUGE mistake.

i was in loveland .now ,i am in greeley, bro. i havent yet been to blackhawk. just havent had the time but in a couple months my funds will b so i wont b playing with scared money. played alot in cali when i was there last year in bakerfield. golden west casino. very live and loose 4/8 limit hi/lo omaha with kill. it would b killer in the future to hang. hopefully in a couple months

That's a tough spot. I won't presume to give you advice on how the hand should have been played, other than to simply point out that had you been short stacking the min-buy in, and properly shoving your quality hands preflop (like certain poker pros do), you would not have found yourself in this spot . . .

I think I call. Interestingly, I was going to say "fold." But, as I started writing out my reasoning, his hand sort of made no sense, so I changed my mind to air (my initial thought process below):

As you eluded too, his range is pretty polarized there. I have a couple of conflicting views on his play. On the one hand, given your 4 bet preflop, why would he not give you credit for a hand in that spot? So a total bluff seems less likely. JJ to QQ makes sense. If he had >KK, why not get it all in preflop?

But, at the same time, what does he think you are 4-betting with? Really, aside from AK (assuming you would even 4 bet that hand), any hand you are 4 betting with is likely ahead of JJ-QQ. Such being the case, why would he shove your flop bet? In other words, if he felt he couldn't shove preflop, what changed on the flop? Did he have 99? And, if so, why not flat the flop bet since he's likely soo far ahead given the action? 78 and semi bluffing? doubtful.

how long are u in denver for? i need a small favor, ive heard that the reserve casino (and also the lady luck) offer free hotel rooms sun to thrus for 6 hours play a day.

of course its $59 fri and sat so im still paying, but id like u to check it out and see if its legit, to stay for a long period of time, u see here in reno i thought i could at the atlantis, then i found out its 2 days a month. the poker room supervisor answered my email with bad info, cause he didnt know until the hotel told him. so thats why i dont think u get accurate info on the phone either, would love it if ud check those 2 rooms out

This is pretty interesting to me. I'm now traveling to Boulder at least once a month on business, and often find myself free in the evenings. Am definitely going to give this place a try. Cheers, Bug. http://pokerbug.blogspot.com/

Poker Meister, I don't like spots like this out of position against a good player. Now if you have picked up that this player is a fish and you are isolating, then I would get it in. However, if the player is a decent regular, I would have flatted the 3 bet and re-evaluate the flop. You put yourself in a tough spot out of position.

I love playing at Ameristar when I travel to Denver. I think the Colorada law of $100 max. bet changes the game quite a bit. There is definitely a lot of money to be won.

Tony,I've played at the Ameristar about 10 times while traveling to Colorado. Usually there are 3 or 4 players with $500+ at the table, 3 players with $200 - $300 and a couple players that are short stacked. The buy-in is unlimited so most people buy-in for $200 - $300.

True indeed - I've seen players sit down with 500+ and usually around 200. I don't think your statement is accurate, tony. Plus, the 30/60 games that regularly run bring about 7k stacks to each player.

That hand is the easiest fold in the world. Even if you put him on nothing but a general pocket pair preflop, more than half of those pocket pairs are now dominating you badly. And the way he played it, the higher ones are far more heavily weighted. As usual with the hands you post, its not close. Said differently, it is like the ultimate donkey move to call for 250 big blinds with just an overpair, of Tens to boot, against a preflop reraiser and reraise-caller. You are willingly piling in 250 big blinds what, a dominated hand 98, 99% of the time here? This is so funny.

This is an obvious fold in any cash game. Thus, you obviously called in your story. And, since you're posting it, your story finishes with him obviously having air. Meanwhile, your play is indefensible with pocket Tens, no matter what fantasy ending you come up with here.

I know this blog cannot really be real. You cannot get every hand wrong like this and then post about how right it is. It is just not possible.

I live and play in black hawk 30 hrs a week. If you think its that easy all the time, you're in for a rude awakening. Wait till you get a s a streak when you're 80-90% get sucked out 80-90% of the time. At times the 1-2 table can be tighter than a virgin.good player might average 12 an hour due to the 100 limit.

Anonymous - you're a fucking dick. It's a big overstatement to say that he's beat 98% of the time on this hand. You're looking at the play and not the metagame. With that being said, I fold in a heartbeat as well. Too much risk for too little reward. And regarding your statement about getting sucked out on 80-90% of the time, that's called variance, dumbass. It is brutal when it happens, but you need to look at the long term.